Objective: To identify psychosocial factors which are associated with African Americans receiving bariatric surgery.
Methods: Data from the 2012 National Inpatient Sample using all patients with an ICD-9 classification of morbid obesity. The outcome measure was any bariatric of weight loss surgery during the inpatient visit. Key variables were age, race gender, payer, depression, Census region and diabetes status. Multivariable logistic regression was used to model the data.
Results: The majority of the sample was identified as Caucasian (77.6%) with 65.6% of the patients female. Most patients had some form of public insurance (61.3%). The prevalence of diabetes was 49.3% with 17.2% of patients diagnosed with depression and 6.3% with some form of psychoses. Whites had a greater odds of receiving bariatric surgery (OR = 1.45). Individuals diagnosed with depression received surgery more than non-depressed individuals (OR = 1.52). Psychoses was statistically significant (OR = 0.57). Patients in the South experienced lower odds of undergoing bariatric surgery than individuals in other regions of the country.
Conclusion: Blacks did not receive bariatric surgery at the same level as their white counterparts even with the same eligibility. Individuals with depression fared better than their non-depressed counterparts in terms of receiving surgery. This can be indicative in progress in the evaluation process prior to bariatric surgery and more equitable access to individuals who have been identified with mental illness.